ITV

Tag: global media

  • Manjyot Sandhu launches global distrib, acquisitions and creator-funding NARaTiV Media:

    Manjyot Sandhu launches global distrib, acquisitions and creator-funding NARaTiV Media:

    MUMBAI: A new global player has entered the content arena. NARaTiV Media, a next-generation distribution, acquisitions and creator funding company, has officially launched—armed with serious financial firepower and a subscriber arsenal topping 100 million+ across YouTube and Meta platforms.

    Built on over 25 years of global media and licensing experience, NARaTiV is co-founded by former Zee TV syndication and licensing veteran Manjyot Sandhu, who now leads the company as chief executive officer. The company aims to become the preferred partner for content owners, independent producers and creators looking to scale across borders, platforms and formats.

    At its core lies a creator investment fund, designed to turbocharge the growth of new media businesses and digital-first talent. The company’s owned and operated channel portfolio spans multiple languages, with exclusive content representation deals and active buying mandates for major CTV and linear networks.

    “We’re building NARaTiV with a bold vision—to unlock true value for creators and content owners worldwide,” said Sandhu. “Financial strength with strategic agility is our edge.”

    The company has hit the ground running with operational hubs in Rio, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Sofia, London, Istanbul, Dubai, and New Delhi—signalling a firm focus on global-local synergy.

    NARaTiV’s upcoming slate includes a flurry of content deals, platform partnerships, and international licensing moves—marking the start of what could be a narrative shift in creator economy infrastructure.

    Further announcements on partnerships, content mandates, and strategic initiatives will follow in the coming weeks.

  • Om Jha levels up: From Pepsico prodigy to global media maestro

    Om Jha levels up: From Pepsico prodigy to global media maestro

    MUMBAI: Five and a half years ago, Om Jha took his first sip of Pepsico’s high-energy corporate culture—nervous, excited, and ready to shake things up. Now, with a portfolio of impactful marketing, media, and data-driven campaigns under his belt, he is stepping into the future with a brand-new role in the company’s global media & transformation team. From Gurgaon to Plano, Texas, Jha’s journey has been nothing short of fizz-tastic. But what’s next? Let’s pop the cap and find out.

    “I was stepping in to do something I had never done before,” Jha reminisced about his early days at Pepsico. “Thanks to Vishal Kaul for hiring me and introducing me to the world of possibilities, and thanks to George Kovoor and Anshul Khanna for letting me define my own role with every passing year.”

    Jha didn’t just dip his toes into the Pepsico pool—he dived in headfirst. As head of media & partnerships (2019–2022), he spearheaded efforts to connect Pepsico’s legendary brands with consumers using a potent mix of media, data, and technology. He led high-stakes advertising and marketing negotiations, ensuring every penny squeezed out more efficiency and effectiveness.

    By 2022, he stepped up as director – media, data, marketing capabilities & partnerships. Here, he architected a robust first-party data-led marketing infrastructure, setting the stage for cutting-edge digital campaigns and award-winning brand partnerships.

    Fast forward to March 2025, and Jha is now embracing his biggest role yet—director of global media capabilities. This new challenge places him at the intersection of global strategy and transformation, a role tailor-made for someone who thrives on the ever-evolving media landscape.

    But Pepsico is just one stop in Jha’s dynamic career. Before this, he was assistant vice president – customer strategy at Disney Star (2018-2019), where he led the strategy vertical for the northern region, handling TV and digital ad sales revenue across multiple entertainment portfolios. Prior to that, he spent nearly two years as senior director – strategy at GroupM, simplifying media and technology for brands while driving insights-based performance marketing.

    Jha’s journey also took him through the telecom world. At Airtel (2015-2016), he headed business planning & consumer insights for the Delhi circle, overseeing operational strategy, financial planning, and product pricing. Before that, he honed his consulting expertise at KPMG India (2014-2015), managing large-scale business transformation projects.

    His early career included a five-year stint at Idea Cellular Ltd, where he worked as chief of staff in the MD’s office, focusing on corporate strategy and operations. He also gained experience in engineering and manufacturing at Mahindra Group (2005-2007), before transitioning into business roles.

    “A huge thank you to Shyam Venugopal and Abhishek Jadon for this opportunity,” Jha said, his excitement as palpable as the fizz in a freshly opened Pepsi can.

    Corporate careers are a bit like carbonated drinks—always under pressure, occasionally shaken, but ultimately, they’re all about making a splash. And if Jha’s track record is anything to go by, he’s about to pop the lid on something truly groundbreaking.

  • Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment inks $125 mn Got Talent securitization deal

    Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment inks $125 mn Got Talent securitization deal

    Mumbai: Global media and entertainment investment bank ACF has recently advised Syco Entertainment, which resulted in Simon Cowell securitizing the “Got Talent” franchise by signing a groundbreaking $125 million deal.

    The Got Talent franchise includes America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent formats that have been commissioned in 72 territories worldwide, including in India on Sony.

    The deal will allow the company to use this war-chest to grow the business through a mixture of strategic acquisitions and organic growth projects.

    As advised by ACF and law firm Memery Crystal throughout the complex investment deal, Syco worked with their team in both the UK and US over a two-year period. The deal is the first of its kind as it includes securitization of various aspects of the Got Talent intellectual property, which comprise production margins and fees, digital income, franchise and original content sales, and sponsorship income. ACF’s innovative approach used a structure for the Got Talent format more commonly applied to the music industry’s royalty income streams.

    ACF founder & CEO Thomas Dey said, “ACF worked with Syco to formulate this financial strategy to support its plans and managed the entire process as the lead bank. Our brief was to create a structure to enable the company to maximise the full potential of its existing passive royalty income stream. ACF has created a winning formula using our extensive experience from across the media and entertainment industries. We are certain that this ground-breaking structure will be one that we will use for many media formats in the future.”

    Syco Entertainment director Ian Rosenblatt OBE said, “ACF’s certainly got talent. Their team, led by the ever-tenacious Thomas Dey, delivered on their promises and introduced the perfect partners to achieve our goals.”

  • CMOs on road to recovery, but challenges ahead: Dentsu survey

    CMOs on road to recovery, but challenges ahead: Dentsu survey

    NEW DELHI: Today, CMOs find themselves at a critical juncture in determining the future of their brands. As they chart the course of recovery and rebuild their fortunes, they are facing a fresh set of challenges, a new survey by Dentsu has revealed.

    The survey comprising 1,361 CMOs across 12 markets analyses how, despite a period of unforeseen disruption, CMOs are reclaiming the strategic agenda with a particular focus on product development. More than 450 CMOs from Australia, China, India, and Japan were surveyed.

    The study finds that despite the general advice that brands should not ‘go dark’ during periods of economic slowdown, nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of CMOs said that their marketing budgets are forecast to decline or remain flat over the coming 12 months. As a reference point, in Dentsu's 2019 survey 41 per cent of CMOs forecast this level of decline in their budgets.

    Pessimism is running rampant in Australia as it predicts a significant decline (36 per cent) in marketing budget. Japan anticipates that budgets will stay flat (29 per cent vs global average 22 per cent). By contrast, positive sentiments are high in China where the budget is predicted to increase 56 per cent in the coming year.

    But the number one challenge facing CMOs is not marketing spends, rather, it is understanding which consumer behaviours will change permanently and which will fall away in the post-Covid environment. CMOs report that there is the added difficulty of aligning the business around changing consumer needs quickly enough and falling consumer spend.

    The report also flags concerns that half (49 per cent) of CMOs concede they are basing their response to the coronavirus crisis on strategies that were pursued during previous recessions. Globally, just one in ten CMOs are looking at entirely new strategies. In the Asia Pacific, nearly half (46 per cent) in India are using ‘completely’ similar strategies to those pursued in previous recessions, compared to 17 per cent global average. China once again bucks the trend, with only 6 per cent doing so.

    However, exceptional times call for exceptional thinking, and a handful of resourceful individuals are staying ahead of the curve by cultivating a new brand of marketing leadership. According to findings, “Frontier CMOs” are well placed to manage the recovery and are doing so by focusing on a handful of key strategies that set them apart from the rest: 

    Hyper-empathy: Developing superior consumer intelligence
    Hyper-agility: Rapid development of new messaging, products and services
    Hyper-collaboration: Integration across all elements of the marketing mix
    Hyper-consolidation: Building resilience across brands and through M&A
    Hyper-transparency: Ensuring purpose permeates all aspects of the business
    Frontier CMOs are also significantly more likely to be accountable for digital transformation than other CMOs, proving their value and impact to company boards as they navigate the future of their business and industry.

    “The Covid-2019 global health crisis has yielded an incisive economic downturn that creates an unknown and largely unpredictable environment for CMO's to navigate,” said Dentsu global CEO Wendy Clark. “However, we also see a new cadre of Frontier CMO's emerging who are leading their organizations into the unknown with confidence. These Frontier CMO's are reclaiming the strategic marketing agenda and, instead of buying into the idea that marketing’s role has somehow been denuded, they’re now leading their brands to recovery and growth.”

    Dentsu Asia Pacific CEO Ashish Bhasin added: “With every disruption comes its own sets of winners and losers. It is crucial for CMOs to keep up with the new skills required in today’s new world to ensure success in the discontinuity. We are right in the midst of a change and this is exciting.”

  • Media industry may cross $ 1k bn, A-Pac & US share 55%

    MUMBAI: The prime most change that has been evident is the shift towards more and more digital products in the media industry. It is expected that digital products and services will soon account for over 50 per cent of any company’s overall media expense.

    By the end of 2020, the global media industry is expected to cross US$ 1000 billion, with Asia Pacific and the US markets accounting for more than a half of the value of this number.

    Aruvian research report stated: Global media growth is primarily being fueled by the rapid development in BRIC countries and other emerging markets. While growth in Europe and many developed markets has been witnessing a slowdown, markets across Asia Pacific have been growing at a strong rate. Digital media continued to be a significant factor in the growth of the media industry, but the expansion of digital media has also met with many challenges along with way.

  • Star India acquires Asia Cup global media rights till 2023

    Star India acquires Asia Cup global media rights till 2023

    MUMBAI: Strengthening its cricket portfolio, Star India has acquired the global media rights of Asia Cup for a period of eight years, running from 2016 to 2023.

     

    The events, which are included under this agreement are as follows: Asia Cup, Women’s Asia Cup, Emerging Asia Cup and U19 Asia Cup to be held from 2016 – 2023.

     

    The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) took the decision to award the rights to Star India at its meeting held on 20 December, 2015 in Singapore.

     

    ACC president Sidath Weetimuny said that the value offered by Star India for the eight year rights was significantly higher than any of ACC’s previous commercial contracts. “It will provide much needed funds for the development of game in Asia,” he said.

     

    “ACC is delighted to have the Star India as media partner to the next cycle of ACC. Star has an undisputed reputation as a sports broadcaster and will guarantee increased promotion and marketing of the ACC events globally,” he added.

  • Wipro Global restructures media & telecom services wing

    Wipro Global restructures media & telecom services wing

    New Delhi, 8 November: Software major Wipro Global media and telecom Business head Ayan Mukerji has quit, leading to a shake-up.  No reasons were given for Mukherji’s departure as the head of the nearly $1 billion business. Mukherji played a major role in growing the various businesses across geographies during his 28 years of association with the outsourcing major.

     

    Wipro said the global media and telecom business will have a new structure with its sub-vertical communication services providers carved out into a separate strategic business unit (communications) with Vice President Anil Jain as its head. Jain will report to

    president and chief operating officer Abidali Neemuchwala.

     

    A  statement from the company said the media vertical has been merged into the retail, consumer goods, transportation and government (RCTG) business unit headed by Srini Palla to tap increasing synergies. The network equipment providers’ (NEP) vertical that works with customers such as Cisco has been merged into the manufacturing and hi-tech business headed by NS Bala to strengthen the company’s position in this space.

     

    Product engineering services business will also report to Neemuchwala who joined Wipro in March after leaving Tata Consultancy Services.

     

    In the second quarter of fiscal 2016, Wipro generated 13.4 percent revenue from Global Media & Telecom, 26.7 percent from Finance Solutions, 18.7 percent from Manufacturing & Hitech, 11.4 percent from Healthcare, Life Sciences & Services, 15.1 percent from Retail, Consumer Goods & Transportation and 14.7 percent from Energy, Natural Resources & Utilities. Its revenue rose 2.1 percent sequentially to $1,832 million in the second quarter ended 30 September.

     

    The Americas region contributed 53 percent revenue in Q2, Europe 25.2 percent, India & Middle East business 10.6 percent and APAC and Other Emerging Markets 11.2 percent.

  • Prime Focus appoints Vikas Rathee as group COO

    Prime Focus appoints Vikas Rathee as group COO

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus today announced the appointment of Vikas Rathee, an investment banking and corporate finance professional as its group chief operating officer.

     

    Rathee brings with him more than a decade of experience working with leading companies in the TMT (telecom, media and technology) sector with proven relationships and in-depth understanding of industry dynamics across US, Europe and Asia.

     

    In his new role, Rathee, will work as part of Prime Focus’ corporate leadership to position Prime Focus among target customers as a key strategic partner as well as the investor and financial community as an incredible growth story that is moving rapidly towards realising its full potential in the global media and entertainment universe.

     

     Announcing the appointment, Prime Focus founder Namit Malhotra said, “Vikas is a seasoned professional with unique combination of industry knowledge, corporate finance and capital markets experience, and M&A expertise who joins us at a perfect time, when we are at the cusp of our next aggressive wave of growth.  His inter-cultural global work experience and eye for investment opportunities are in-sync with our planned growth strategy. I have huge confidence in Vikas’ ability to accelerate Prime Focus’ growth momentum in the coming years.”

     

     Prime Focus India CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan said, “Vikas coming on broad has strengthened our leadership team and will accelerate our next wave of growth. He comes with strong knowledge of both media and IT that is a key differentiator for PFT as well. As Prime Focus grows from strength to strength, Vikas’ addition will be important in helping the team manage the business with discipline, diligence and dynamism. His industry networks and relationships globally will act as catalyst to the growth of Prime Focus”  

     

     “I am delighted to be part of the world leader in media and entertainment industry services, Prime Focus. As an investment banking professional focused on the TMT space, I have closely watched the growth, consolidation and evolution of this dynamic sector on a global scale. Prime Focus, through the last decade and a half, has made a significant contribution to this evolution not only in India, but is now also having a profound impact on the international media and entertainment industry as well. Today as a unique service provider straddling creative and technology domains, and working with some of the biggest names in this seamless global industry, Prime Focus is all set to fuel growth to the next level. I look forward to working with Namit and Ramki in making this vision a reality.” said Rathee, on his appointment.

     

    Vikas is an MBA in Finance and CFA, and comes with over 16 years of experience covering stints at Suzlon, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and ABN AMRO.

  • Omnicom Q3 net, revenues flat

    MUMBAI: Global media communications network Omnicom‘s revenues and net profit growth in the third quarter of 2012 was flat.

    The company‘s net profit in the third quarter was $203.9 million compared with $203.7 million a year earlier. Its revenues in the third quarter were $3.41 billion compared with $3.38 billion a year earlier.

    Omnicom‘s operating income increased by 3.72 per cent to $ 987.3 million in the third quarter from $373.4 million a year earlier.

    The major chunk of contribution to the business was from advertising (46.6 per cent), followed by CRM (37.1 per cent), public relations (9.2 per cent) and specialty (7.1 per cent).

    The company‘s revenues from the US for the third quarter of 2012 increased 3.2 per cent to $1.76 billion compared to $1.70 billion in the third quarter of 2011. Its international revenues decreased 1.7 per cent to $1.65 billion compared to $1.68 billion in the third quarter of 2011.

    Omnicom‘s net income for the nine months ended 30 September increased 1.5 per cent to $691.2 million from $680.7 million in the same period in 2011. Worldwide revenue for the nine months increased 2.5 per cent to $10.28 billion from $10.02 billion in the same period in 2011. Domestic revenue for the nine months ended 30 September increased 4.2 per cent to $5.34 billion from $5.12 billion in the same period in 2011. International revenue for the nine months increased 0.8 per cent to $4.94 billion from $4.90 billion in the same period in 2011.

  • Unilever splits biz between Mindshare, PHD and Initiative

    MUMBAI: Unilever, which had initiated a global review in early 2012 in line with company policy to evaluate media agency arrangements periodically, has split the business between Mindshare, PHD and Initiative globally.

    In India,As a part of the announcement, WPP‘s Mindshare will continue to buy and plan media for Unilever in markets including Europe (UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia), North America (US, Canada and Caribbean), Asia (India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Viet Nam, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and Africa (South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa).

    Omnicom‘s media agency PHD has been appointed in Europe (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina), Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and New Zealand) while IPG‘s media agency Initiative has been appointed in Latin America (all countries including Mexico, excluding Brazil) and Europe (Greece, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus).

    Additionally, PHD will also handle the global communication planning account for personal care, refreshment, foods and homecare brands. Global planning for Household Care will be managed by Initiative, as part of an integrated IPG solution.

    Unilever SVP Global Media Luis Di Como said, “We are confident that we have the right agency partners to service our business. They will help us leverage our scale and engage with consumers around the world in effective and meaningful ways, in order to fulfill our ambition of doubling the size of our business while reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our social impact.”

    “We greatly value the long-term relationships that we have with our agency partners and look forward to continue working closely with them to deliver our marketing strategy, Crafting Brands for Life, and our ambition to continue leading in the digital marketing space,” Di Como added.